HI, IM CLAIRE

As a student, I like to think of myself as the master of a balancing act. I love cooking and eating healthy foods, but sometimes I only have enough time to grab something quick. And sometimes that something is a cheeseburger. As for exercise, I love the way I look and feel after a good work out, but if all of my friends are in my apartment watching The Bachelor, I might be more inclined to stay home and do that as opposed to wiping the stinging sweat out of my eyes at boot camp.

That’s why I’m here. I want to impart my ideas about how to balance food and fitness in a realistic and attainable way in order to achieve health. I don’t like diets, so don’t come here expecting to find one. But, if you’re here looking for a practical way to look at health and fitness from the perspective of a college student (or maybe just a very busy person), then I might have just the thing for you.

Popular Workouts

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Seed Pudding

October 22, 2012

IMPORTANT! If you’ve “liked” The Slender Student on Facebook (which you should), then you should know that the Zuckmeister has changed FB policies so you might not be receiving all of my posts. This means you could be missing out on musically motivated Monday, reader recipe pictures, and slender tips! Is the FOMO setting in already? Easy fix– go to the top of The Slender Student fan page, and under the “Liked” link, click “Add to Interest List”. Welcome back.

If you haven’t heard of chia seed pudding, then you’ve been living under a food blog/Pinterest rock.

Let me tell you why they’re magic. First of all, they do this cool thing when you put them in liquid– they absorb it and grow to like 9 times their original size. See those dark spots in my pudding? They used to be the size of a flake of pepper. Insane! During this process, they develop a cool gelatinous texture, which makes them great for thickening or for making pudding, durr. I’ve seen people add them to smoothies, oatmeal, pancakes, salads, basically everything. Second of all, chia seeds are seriously nutritious. They’re a vegetarian/vegan friendly source of Omega-3 fatty acids (good fat), protein, and fiber. Remember my friend fiber?

The seeds on their own don’t have much flavor, so you can come up with your own additions to the base recipe. I went for the classic chocolate peanut butter combo, but my mind has (obviously) also ventured into pumpkin flavored territory. Maybe next time.

directions:1. In a container with a lid, combine the chia seeds, almond milk, Splenda, and PB2.2. Stir or shake well to combine.3. Let pudding sit in the fridge for at least a couple of hours, if not overnight.

Hi Jenn! I can’t personally vouch for cocoa powder but I would imagine it’d work. The sweetness might be a little off due to the bitterness of the cocoa but that’s nothing a bit of extra Splenda or vanilla extract couldn’t fix. Either that or some low-calorie hot chocolate mix. I’ve also read that PB2 is basically glorified peanut flour, so maybe you’ll have an easier time finding that. I’ve ordered my PB2 from Amazon before when I couldn’t find it. I hope one of these suggestions works!

This looks delicious. I tried to make it last night and stuck it in the fridge, but this morning it still looked like milk with chia seeds. The chia seeds didn’t expand or thicken the texture at all! HELP.